As the world celebrates the 60th Anniversary of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights today, the Indigenous community of New South Wales is fast running out of time to claim stolen wages held in trust by the Premier’s Aboriginal Trust Fund Repayment Scheme (ATFRS).
“The 31st December deadline for lodging a claim is only 3 weeks away. On this important anniversary I think it is necessary to question whether we should be imposing a cut off date on access to basic human rights,” say Greens MP Ian Cohen.
“By extending this deadline and raising more awareness of the scheme within the Indigenous community, the NSW government has an opportunity to renew its commitment to Article 23 of the Declaration, which enshrines the right for all people to have equal pay for equal work.”
ATFRS was established in 2005, and as of October this year the Department of Aboriginal Affairs estimates that 634 living and 2,587 descendant claims have been lodged.
“It was originally estimated that there would be up to 11,000 claims. It’s clear that the take up of the scheme has been extremely low, and much more needs to be done to raise awareness of the scheme within the Indigenous community.“
Between 1900 and 1968, funds were held in trust for many Indigenous people, including wages, pensions, child endowment payments, inheritances and lump sum compensation payments. Dubbed “Stolen Wages”, these funds had never been repaid until the ATFR scheme was introduced.
For more information on the scheme or making a claim before the 31 December deadline, call the ATFRS hotline on 1800 765 889.
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